Justice? Not in Chicago

“The grand jury found that Richard J. Vanecko ‘recklessly performed acts which were likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another’ in Koschman’s death in 2004, according to the indictment,” reports the Chicago Tribune.

Some people call that murder, but manslaughter will do as well.

As Michael Toomin, the judge who ordered the special prosecutor observed “This is not a whodunit . . . When you have a dead body, someone’s going to jail. Not in this case.”

Yeah, not in Chicago.

The Cook County State’s Attorney who was then responsible for investigating the crime is a long-time Daley family friend, Richard “Dick” Devine. Devine, gone from the State’s Attorney’s office is now representing Vanecko’s older brother Robert. Robert is being sued for allegedly mismanaging $68 million in city pension funds.

And what story about Chicago isn’t complete without city pension funds being mismanaged by a nephew of a “someone.”

“While professing impartiality, [the state’s attorney’s office] essentially has endeavored to denigrate the evidence against Vanecko,” said Toomin, “a rather unusual strategy for an objective prosecutor to embrace.”

Yeah, not in Chicago.

So what happened? How did this miscarriage of justice, this travesty, finally go wrong for the “someones” in Chicago?

The judge, the special prosecutor and everyone else who let this case go forward aren’t political novices. Nothing happens in politics by accident.

Dan Webb, the special prosecutor who was appointed by Judge Toomin, prosecuted corrupt judges in Chicago and is well-known for his strong political ties. Webb has donated fairly large amounts of money to Mitt Romney, Barrack Obama, the Democrat National Committee, the Republican National Committee, Rudi Gulliani and John McCain. He’s also a regular contributor to his firm’s PAC -Winston Strawn- which has contributed $38,000 to Democrats in 2012 and $27,000 to the GOP. Winston Strawn has also generated about $14 million in lobbying income since Obama became president- although they routinely generated more income for lobbying under the Bush administration.

And when Webb promised to investigate the case aggressively, you can be sure that “someone” knew “something.”

Because Richie Daley isn’t mayor anymore, and Jesse Jackson Jr. is under a federal investigation so serious that he did the mental-hospital-hideout usually reserved for Mafioso.

And what “someone” would have the most to gain by getting those “someones” like Daley and Jackson out the way?

John Ransom is the Finance Editor for Townhall Finance, host of Ransom Notes Radio and you can catch more of the best money advice and monetary commentary by him daily 10am PT, 1pm ET at WealthEd.com or on Comcast Cable.

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